When parody turns into online disinformation

False information that spreads on social networks is often verified and denied. But this is not the case with parody articles that slip through the cracks, generating controversy and income for those who disseminate them.

Bill Gates arrested for child trafficking and hanged in Guantanamo, Tom Hanks executed by the US military, Pope Francis banning absolution for Catholics not vaccinated against Covid-19… These articles – all bogus – have been published on sites identifying themselves as satirical. The problem is that many Internet users share these hoaxes that flood social networks.

Satire or parody “used” to escape the surveillance of platforms

For Claire Wardle, co-founder and director of the NGO First Draft which fights against disinformation, the warnings of “satirical” or “parodic” sites can be knowingly used to escape the surveillance of platforms. “You see malicious people or disinformation agents labeling their content as satire knowing that it will be shared without it. It has become a strategy to make money or sow discord, ”she explains.

The platforms also face a dilemma, with satire or caricature seen in the United States and elsewhere as an important part of political discourse and implicitly protected by the Constitution or press laws. Its mention on a site can prevent it from being subjected to Facebook’s algorithm – supposed to make the information manipulated less visible – and, in some cases, escape the auditors.

“A common tactic of disinformers to make money online”

During the 2020 US presidential campaign, the Poynter Institute’s verification site PolitiFact found more than 100 websites posting parody information, without explicit warning. It is, according to PolitiFact, “a common tactic of disinformers to make money online” thanks to the advertising generated by its mass distribution.

In 2017, in the midst of the presidential election in France, a fake interview with the future winner Emmanuel Macron published a year earlier on the famous parody site “Le Gorafi” had created a huge controversy. “When I shake the hand of a poor man, I feel dirty for the whole day,” said the “young and handsome” Minister of the Economy. These completely invented words had however been relayed by outraged Internet users.

Humor or politics? Some sites cultivate ambiguity …

Like “Le Gorafi” in France, “The Onion” in the United States and “The Beaverton” in Canada are recognized parody sites. But others cultivate more ambiguity, such as the “Babylon Bee”, with a rather conservative tendency and author of the news claiming that the head of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has decided to lay down his arms, convinced with a call for universal love from singer Katy Perry.

According to an Ohio State study in 2019, 28% of Republicans and 14% of Democrats admitted to believing in the “infox” of Babylon Bee. Former President Donald Trump even retweeted one in 2020. Kelly Garrett, who led the study, believes that checking parody sites may be less effective in limiting the spread of disinformation. “If you say it went through verification, there is a political dimension,” he says. “If you say it’s bogus, it’s more persuasive.”